Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 490 Three Main Highways

  Hekou Town

  It is late July, which coincides with the dry season in Africa.

The Zambezi River, which used to be endlessly white, has changed a lot. The broad riverbed in front of it has been exposed, forming one beach after another. There are dense bushes growing on it. Sometimes a pond reflects the light of the sun, under the scorching sun. Suffering.

  Originally, the width of the river was 8 kilometers and the river surface was narrowed to a mere 200 meters. There are several small creeks flowing on the river bed. It is estimated that it will be completely dry in a few days, leaving only the main river rushing all the way to the ocean.

The main channel of the Zambezi River is fully presented, as if a long and twisted dragon stretches into the distance. The water is clear and translucent, and a group of fat fish can be seen swimming happily. A stone is thrown into the water and splashed with crystal waves, shocked. The fish quickly disappeared among the swaying aquatic plants.

The wooden trestle bridge extends into the main river, and an ocean-going freighter of more than 6000 tons is moored by the trestle bridge. This is a freighter that transports cement, steel, coal and other materials from the local area. It also carries cans, toffee and 12 60mm field battles. Infantry artillery, used to supplement the expeditionary army's material reserves.

The investment in the construction of the Red Fort in Africa is far less powerful than in other overseas territories. Therefore, the construction is simple. The ship terminal is a wooden trestle. All construction projects can use manpower and no machinery. You can’t see the pavilion here in other places. In the wooden building, there are no tractors and other mechanical equipment, and everything is based on manpower.

  This 6000-ton ocean-going freighter has arrived at the port for 4 days. The unloading mainly relies on black slaves to carry on their shoulders, so the progress is slow. So far, a small half of the materials have not been unloaded.

  On the road leading to Hekou Town from the pier

The black slaves with their naked bodies only around the loincloth dragged the cart with rubber wheels, which was full of goods. A few people in the front dragged them, and a few people pushed them in the back, "hey hey" under the scorching sun. Going hard, the long fleet of trucks can't see the head at a glance.

  I haven't seen him for a few months, Li Shuanzhu is a little darker and thinner than before.

  There is a beautiful beard flowing between his lips, and his eyes are sharper and more confident. He is sitting under the pergola of the wooden trestle bridge of the newly built pier. Behind him is a large group of soldiers with guns and live ammunition. What are they waiting for?

   "Master Tuanzuo, the brothers who went out hunting are back." The adjutant next to him pointed forward, his tone revealing excitement.

  Li Shuanzhu looked in the direction of his fingers, and saw several small black spots appearing on the main channel of the Zambezi River in the distance, galloping towards Hekou Town.

  He couldn't help but said with a smile at the corner of his mouth; "What hunting...just talk nonsense, we are performing the task of recruiting labor on the spot issued by the superior, but it is really cool to have the opportunity to go out in a mosquito speedboat!"

   "That's not... There are so many animals on the African savannah, I guess the brothers will never come back empty-handed."

   "Haha..." Li Shuanzhu smiled without saying a word.

  Taking advantage of the task of hunting black slaves, by the way, some antelopes, deer, bison, etc. came back to fight the teeth. It has become the favorite activity of the first-line company performing the task, so they call it "hunting."

  Considering that the brothers have landed in Mozambique for more than half a year, it is rare to have a chance to go out and relax. As a chief, Li Shuanzhu can open one eye and close one eye without further investigation. It does not mean that he is blatantly collaborating with them. What is it?

The "mosquito" speedboats traveling by wind and waves on the river are getting closer and closer. There are a total of 4 boats in the front and rear. The decks are full of shivering African indigenous men. Big.

  After arriving at the pier, the speedboat leaned up one by one. A savvy lieutenant officer took the lead to board the trestle with a few of his men, ran to Li Shuanzhu, and saluted the report;

   "Reporting to the group, the three battalions and seven companies were ordered to carry out the task of collecting labor on the spot, and successfully recruited 733 black slave laborers. There were no casualties in our department. Please give instructions."

  "Very well, continue to **** the slave workers back to the station for handover. You have worked hard all the way."

   "Yes, thank you for your care."

The lieutenant officer immediately turned around to organize the soldiers to **** the slave laborers. Li Shuanzhu stood under the pergola on the trestle bridge and watched with his hands. He was quite satisfied with the harvest of this attack.

  Have these native black slaves ever take a speedboat?

  One by one, they were so scared that they could not stand up with their soft legs and soft legs. The soldiers kicked and beat them with clubs, and then tremblingly descended from the deck of the speedboat and moved forward in a long line as required.

  Take a closer look at the deck of the speedboat. There are puddles of excrement and urine everywhere. After stopping, it smells stinking.

At this time, some other black slave laborers came forward carrying wooden barrels. These wooden barrels were all tied with a long rope. They fetched water on the spot to clean the deck. Seeing this skillful appearance, it was obviously not the first time they were doing it. This kind of thing.

The black laborers who have just arrived at the pier need to shave their hair, disinfect their whole body, and then each send out a loincloth and a sticky mass of food wrapped in banana leaves. This is the largest production of cassava and bananas in the local area. The food made is very full after eating, but the calories are not high, and there is no way to support the black laborers to escape far.

  Under the muzzle and sticks

  These recruited black laborers moved forward in a line with a vague expression. They were very afraid of these black-haired and dark-eyed soldiers, and few dared to resist.

Talking about the few black laborers who resisted, I heard two "plops" here. Two strong young blacks jumped into the clear Zambezi River, swimming forward flexibly, trying Escape this scary place.

  The escorted soldiers immediately came to the river with guns, pushed and pulled the bolts and loaded the bullets, aiming at the river, there was a burst of gunfire, and the work was finished.

  Li Shuanzhu frowned slightly and turned around, assuming he hadn’t seen this.

  Nowadays, both road construction and urban construction require a large amount of labor. The attitude towards black labor is somewhat simple and rude, but the effect is very good.

Few people in the expeditionary army can speak the local black tribal language, only some Portuguese whites and tamed local blacks can understand, and the number is very small. This is the biggest difficulty facing the expeditionary army, and the two languages ​​cannot communicate at all.

  When it is extraordinary, take extraordinary measures.

The broad road along the Zambezi River that goes deep into the inland is named Central Avenue. The current planned length is 770 kilometers, and it has reached the plateau area of ​​Northwestern Province. This is an important project for the Expeditionary Force to strengthen control of the inland ruled area. It must be on time this year. Finished within.

Besides

There are also two thoroughfare roads to the south and north from Colima, the capital of Zambezi Province, and enter the hinterland of the southern province to the south. It is named "Southern Road" with a planned length of 671 kilometers and extends south to Swaziland. The region borders South Africa under British rule.

   Heading north into the inland area of ​​Northern Province, named "North Avenue", with a planned length of about 820 kilometers, extending to the border of the northern German-occupied area.

  In addition to the Central Avenue, there are three main highways with a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers.

  Taking Colimanet, the capital of Zambezi Province, as the center point, it radiates outward to form a m-shaped road network, connecting the provinces of the entire Mozambique region, and doing a good job in the construction of early transportation facilities for immigration and colonization.

  From a military point of view, these three main roads can allow the African Expeditionary Force to advance inland quickly, sweep all resistance and unrest, and maintain absolute colonial rule over Mozambique, which is of great significance.

  From an economic point of view;

  After the completion of these three main highways, it will not only facilitate the circulation of commodities, but also facilitate the colonization work to penetrate into the hinterland, establish one after another villages and townships, and firmly control this overseas territory.

   is based on this

The Expeditionary Force has allocated a large amount of manpower and material resources to the construction of the main highway. This year, the number of black laborers planned to be recruited has reached 70,000 to 80,000. After the completion of the Central Highway at the end of this year, the construction of South Avenue and North Avenue will begin at the same time next year. The number of black laborers needed will double, and the number of laborers needed for urban construction will be a very large number.

  As a result of the recent large-scale arrest of black laborers, the local indigenous tribes have caused great panic. Many tribes collectively migrated to the inland desert Gobi area, resulting in a rapid population in the area.

According to preliminary calculations from the expeditionary force data, apart from the forced recruitment of black laborers, the number of black indigenous people in the entire Mozambique area is already less than one million, and many large and medium-sized tribes have fled to remote areas, which will bring great difficulties to the next step of recruitment. .

But that's something that should be a headache for the Expeditionary Army headquarters. Li Shuanzhu doesn't need to bother that god. He watched the wharf **** and cleaning and disinfection work in an orderly manner. He was quite satisfied, and turned to the captain in charge of the wharf and asked; "Labor The collection work cannot be slack, how does the terminal arrange it?"

"The report group, nowadays, labor recruitment mainly relies on mosquito-class speedboats ascending the Zambezi River and going deep inland. Therefore, limited by the number of speedboats and diesel reserves, the Hekou Township wharf has six mosquito-class speedboats and 61 barrels of diesel reserves. , If 6 speedboats attack with high intensity, they can only last for two weeks. Therefore, the current rotation plan of 4 ships attack and two maintenance ships is expected to last for about 20 days. If there is no diesel supply in the near future, then speedboats The frequency of attacks will be further reduced, which will inevitably affect the work of labor recruitment."

   "Well, this is indeed a big problem. After I go back, I will report to the expeditionary force and apply for another batch of diesel oil, otherwise it will affect the recruitment of labor."

  Li Shuanzhu nodded with deep feeling. Australia itself does not produce oil, and the petroleum products it needs are imported from the United States. It has been transported to Mozambique almost across half of the earth, and diesel, which was originally worthless, has become very valuable.

  This is the real reason why there is very little mechanical participation in African colonization. Diesel is an extremely important military material, and it is reluctant to use it in basic engineering construction. It has become a general consensus to use manpower as much as possible without machinery.

After all, the funds allocated by the Red Fort are limited. A penny has to be broken into two halves. Compared with cheap and almost free labor, expensive diesel and kerosene are not only troublesome to store and transport, but also scarce in quantity. They are one of the most important military materials.

  "When will the ship's materials be unloaded?"

   "Report to the group, and the humble duty ordered the labor camp to be divided into two shifts for non-stop transportation. It is estimated that it will take two more days before the goods can be completely emptied."

  "Make arrangements as soon as possible. The next step is to increase the manpower for you. The efficiency of loading and unloading at the terminal must be improved. Ocean-going cargo ships cannot stay in the port for too long. Shipping companies have already complained about this, and they must take into account their perception."

"The humble duty obeys orders, we must focus on improving efficiency. The group...the humble duty has a feeling of remorse. Please consider whether you can leave us a little bit from this batch of cement and steel as a reinforcement for the loading and unloading machinery of the wharf. Building materials and the surface of the trestle bridge also need to be paved, which can only greatly enhance the loading and unloading efficiency of the terminal."

   "This... please instruct the expeditionary army headquarters to talk about it later."

Li Shuanzhu groaned for a moment and shook his head. The cement steel transported from thousands of miles was used to build bridges and culverts along the Central Avenue. Don’t look at this place in Africa, but the Mozambique region is rich in water and grass, streams crisscross, and bridges and culverts need to be built. few.

  Preliminary calculations, there are about 200 large and small.

  All of these require the use of cement and steel. The power to use this batch of materials belongs to the Road Construction Corps. Colonel Kohler is not a good talker. He is always rigorous and does not know how to work. It is very difficult and almost impossible to expect to intercept a batch of cement and steel from his hands.

  Li Shuanzhu asked himself that he didn’t have this face. He said that he had to write a written report to the Commander to help out. Anyway, he didn’t use it for himself. It was all for the sake of colonizing Africa.

  By the dock, the 4 speedboats that have just returned have been cleaned and renewed, ready to set off again tomorrow.

The large baskets of meat that the soldiers carried down from the speedboat were all wild animals that were hunted on their return journey. There were venison and a dozen African gazelles. They were all taken care of on the speedboat. All the limbs, including the head, were cut off and thrown into the water, leaving only large chunks of meat, enough for everyone to eat a good game.

  Big meat stewed with banana mash is a unique way to eat in Africa, and the taste is extremely unique.

A joyful smile appeared on every soldier’s face. The vast and beautiful land of Mozambique was blessed by God. There were countless groups of wild animals. The wildebeest herd could even reach tens of thousands. Surprisingly, elephants, giraffes and rhinos can be seen everywhere, living leisurely on this land.

  There are many varieties of bananas produced in Mozambique, including red, yellow, black, and green. Large areas of wild banana forests not only love feeding by animals, but are also the staple food of local African indigenous tribes.

  The huge bananas lack sweetness and have a very hard texture. After they are cooked, they feel a bit like sweet potatoes in the mouth. They are the staple food of the local black indigenous people. If you are hungry, you can break a few in the banana forest.

  The red banana is named after its dark red peel. This wild banana forest can often be seen in Mozambique. It is small, short and squat, and it is very comfortable to hold in the hand.

  This red banana tastes very good, with a bit of berry flavor in the sweetness. The taste is soft and tastes like cream. If you use red bananas to make ice cream or milkshakes, it’s not too delicious.

  There is also a rhino horn banana in Mozambique. This kind of banana looks like a rhino horn. It has a curved and slender shape and a large head. A banana weighs 2 to 3 kilograms, which is very domineering.

  Rhino horn bananas can be eaten raw or boiled. One banana is enough for two strong men to eat.

  It is precisely because of the abundance of products and the large amount of food reserves obtained from white plantations that the expeditionary army does not have to worry about insufficient food and can recruit black laborers to build roads on a large scale.

  Just a little bit of hands here, adequate food and clothing is not a problem at all.

  (End of this chapter)